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Take a Day Off

Even though we are retired, we still need that “day off” now and then. There is a lot to do in our house, especially since the Crankee Yankee is going to be renovating the kitchen. It will quite literally be from ceiling to floor and everything in between.

Of course there is much that needs to be done, but it doesn’t have to be done all at once. In fact, it gets easier to get things done when you take a day off. I mean this literally: pick a day and just go with the flow. Today is in fact our day off; no renovating, no dusting, no vacuuming, no laundry; just declaring a day to be what we call “sluggardly.”

It means having a leisurely breakfast with lots of hot coffee, reading the Sunday paper, going several hours without brushing our teeth or washing our faces. We like watching our cats groom themselves and each other, playing and snoozing. They have the right idea. It’s the kind of day that demands nothing of us. Anything that needs attention can jolly well wait one more day.

Enjoying a sluggardly day also means making a breakfast of weird things like leftover pizza, the raspberry turnovers I bought yesterday, a raisen bun with lots of drippy butter, a ham and cheese rollup (this is lots easier if you buy string cheese), hot oatmeal with raisens and walnuts, or “whatever eggs,” which in our house means scrambled eggs with chopped onions, peppers, mushrooms, leftover ham and cheese; or “whatever.”

It’s a day to do anything we want, or do nothing at all. Even when things pick at our brains, demanding our attention, we can dismiss it by saying (out loud, of course): “go away; I’ll deal with you tomorrow. It’s our day off today, so bugger off.” It’s just that easy.

You will be amazed at how easy it gets when you take a well-deserved day off. If you begin to feel guilty, just say (again, out loud) “it’s my day off.” Repeat until any guilt goes away.